[-Jim-]

I feel for this poor woman and her relatives (if their about) should be fuckin ashamed of themselves. Fuckin sick!


Body may have lain for five years

The body of a pensioner has been found in a tenement flat in Edinburgh where it may have lain for up to five years.

Isabella Purves, who owned the flat, would have been 90 this year.

Police officers, who are appealing for relatives to get in touch, made the discovery as they investigated a water leak on Tuesday.

They had to push past a large volume of mail to enter the flat in Rodney Street in the Cannonmills area. The death is not being treated as suspicious.

It is understood the pensioner may have been paying her bills by direct debit.

Cleo Gifford, 34, whose family lived opposite Ms Purves for 18 years, said she was saddened and shocked by the news.

She told the BBC Scotland news website: "In all the 18 years we lived there, Ms Purves never had one visitor, it was a wee shame.
Inside Ms Purves flat
Mail piled up over the years at Ms Purves' flat

"She was always cleaning her brasses and keeping the stair clean and would go out hiking. She was very fit and only became frail in later years.

"She was an old-fashioned lady, quite a Miss Marple, Morningside-type, but not glam - no pearls or twin sets, but she would wear thick tights and long skirts and was always very well turned out.

"I think it is tragic that someone can be deceased for such a long period of time and not be found, it is really sad."

Dorothy Crystal, joint owner of David Crystal Optometrist, said Ms Purves was an annual customer until her last visit in 1997.

She said: "We kept sending her reminders until 2004 but stopped after we thought she must have gone to live in a nursing home.

"She used to walk past the shop but she was frail.

"I am absolutely shocked at this news because it is a close-knit community here and I find it incredible that nobody knew she had died for all this time."

Ms Purves's 44-year-old postman said: "I only met her once in the 10 years I have been delivering her mail.

"She never got much mail, it was only occasional, so that's why I didn't suspect anything.

"There was no smell from her door. I am very shocked and saddened that she has been lying there so long."

Neil Gammack, 57, whose sister raised the alarm when water started leaking from Ms Purves' top floor flat into his kitchen, said he had not seen Ms Purves for five years.

"I am shocked and have been thinking about it for days," he said.

"I never saw her all the years I have been living here."

Neighbour Lucy Balloch, 28, added: "I am very sad and shocked by the news.

"People always change flats here as there are a lot of students and very few long-term residents, so nobody knows their neighbours and therefore didn't suspect anything."

Giovanni Cilia, 59, has owned the Fioritalia flower shop, which is located below Ms Purves' flat, for 20 years.

He said she was a solitary person who would occasionally stop to talk.

"I haven't seen her for at least three years, maybe more," he said.

"She would sometimes weed the communal garden at the front of the tenements and I used to see her with a huge rucksack and big walking boots... but I never knew where she was going."

[-Jim-]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8132642.stm

[-Jim-]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8132642.stm

['Mia']

Aww how sad, makes you wonder why the neighbours didnt check in on her. Shame on her family !

I bet they son appear if she has much to leave in her will.

['Mia']

*soon not son bloody keyboard sucks shit

[Angel_cake]

Awwwe, poor woman!

[-Jim-]

[Flowergirl]

It makes me sick

[Miss Bitch]

Bizarre that the neighbour who knows so much about her didn't notice her absence.

As for the son - no one knows what goes on in people;s families. Just 'cos you're related to someone doesn't mean you have to get along or keep contact. You don't get to choose your family. Unfortunately.

It's alright talking about what an awful shame it is but she might have been a nasty old bitch that killed small animals for fun and actually deserved to die alone.

[Angel_cake]

[Miss Bitch]

[Miss Bitch]

[-Jim-]

[The Organ Grinder]

And yet another one of those incredible sad stories. It is so difficult to find the words to express these types of stories.

But anyway did she have relatives because death duty will have to be paid.
5 years of unpaid death duty totes-up a fair amount of interest.
I’m sure a Government administration unit will not be lacking on these opportunities.

The patient Gods will be waiting with their steady cup-hands!

[-Jim-]

[Misanthropic_MeL]

Shit! I walk past that street every week to do my shopping at Tesco

Such a shame, but then, it is weird that none of the neighbours bothered to check, especially the ones that lived next door for 18 years (assuming they are still there)

They obviously didn't like her that much to go through the bother of knocking on her door once in a while

Shame though... hopefully she was a nice person and if she has relatives, they should be ashamed. Despite my utter dislike for my parents, I think I would contact them at least once a year

[[urine]]

it suprises me are still suprised by this kind of thing

[Russet Guzzler]

I once flat sat in Clapton and we had to call the police because of the flies and smell coming from next door

The cause was an elderly woman who'd died in her chair some weeks previously

The flat owner said the neighbour never went out or spoke to anyone - so how are people to know if people need help if they cut themselves off?

[Miss Bitch]

[-Jim-]

[flame]

[prufrock]

The woman clearly had poor social skills, why this is societies fault baffles me, trust me there are quite a few of these types floating around edinburgh, after all this is where the loaded question, " you will have had your tea" was coined.

[-Jim-]

[flame]

[-Jim-]

Nah, not at all. There's been far worse said to me here.